The Basics of Writing

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The Basics of Writing

• Expository Writing
• and
• Personal Responses

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Types of Writing

• Expository Writing essays, quick writes, and
  summaries formal writing.
• Purpose is to inform or explain something.
• Use third person ONLY Write in present tense
• Personal Writing reflections, responses, and
  narratives formal and informal writing.
• Purpose is to focus on personal opinions, ideas,
  and events.
• Uses third person ONLY First person is implied

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Clauses and Sentence Structure

• Clause a group of words that has a subject and a
  predicate (verb). A clause can function as a
  sentence by itself or as a part of a sentence.
• Main Clause has a subject, verb, and expresses a
  complete thought. It is the only type of clause
  that can stand alone as a sentence.
• Every sentence MUST have at least one main
  clause.

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Main Clauses

• Note that a coordinating conjunction is not part
  of a main clause.
• The curtain rose.
• Subject Verb
• The cast bowed, and the audience applauded.
• Subject Verb
  Subject Verb

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Subordinate Clauses

• Subordinate Clause has a subject and a verb but
  does not express a complete thought, so it cannot
  stand alone.
• Subordinate Clauses depend on the rest of the
  sentence because it does not make sense alone.
• There are three types of subordinate clauses
• Adjective Clause modifies nouns or pronouns
• Adverb Clause modifies verbs, adj, or adv
• Noun Clause functions as nouns

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Subordinate Clauses

• A subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun
  usually introduces a subordinate clause.
• When the dog barked, the baby cried.
• S V S
  V
• Dogs that obey are a joy.
• S S V V

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Perspective (Pronouns)

• First Person the person speaking
• Singular I, me,/ my, mine,/ myself
• Plural we, us,/ our, ours,/ ourselves
• Second Person the person being spoken to
• Singular you,/ your, yours,/ yourself
• Plural you,/ your, yours,/ yourselves
• Third Person the person being discussed
• Singular he, him, she, her, it,/ his, her, hers,
  its,/ himself, herself, itself
• Plural they, them,/ their, theirs,/ themselves

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Indefinite Pronouns

• In expository writing, avoid using indefinite
  pronouns because they are too ambiguous and
  vague.
• Indefinite pronoun refers to persons, places or
  ideas in a more general way than nouns.
• ie. Anything, everything, thing, it, someone,
  some, something, somebody, nobody, no one,
  everybody, everyone, one, any, etc

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Using Pronouns Correctly

• Pronoun a word that takes the place of a noun.
• Antecedent the noun to which the pronoun is
  referring to.
• In expository writing, do not use a pronoun
  without an antecedent.
• ie. Though Georgia OKeefe was born in Wisconsin,
  she grew to love the landscape of the American
  Southwest. (ID the antecedent)

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Using Pronouns Correctly

• Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement all pronouns must
  agree with their antecedents in number, gender,
  and person.
• Number agree with plural or singular ant.
• Gender agree with masculine or feminine ant.
• ie. Emily Dickinson wrote her poems on scrap
  paper. (singular feminine pronoun)
• Person agree with 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person ant.
• The lost generation wrote about their loss of
  innocence because of the World Wars.

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Clear Pronoun Reference

• Clearly state the antecedent of the pronoun. Make
  sure that a pronoun does not refer to more than
  one antecedent.
• Dont use the pronoun this, that, which, it, any,
  or one without a clearly stated antecedent.
• ie. Dickens loved public speaking, and that
  greatly boosted his popularity. (What boosted his
  popularity? His speeches did, but the word
  speeches is not specifically mentioned.)
• Dickens loved public speaking, and his speeches
  greatly boosted his popularity.

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Clear Pronoun Reference

• If a pronoun seems to refer to more than one
  antecedent, either reword the sentence to make
  the antecedent clear or eliminate the pronoun.
• ie. After the tickets slipped between the
  reports, they were lost. (Tickets or reports?)
• The tickets were lost when they slipped between
  the reports. (clear antecedent)
• When the tickets slipped between the reports, the
  tickets were lost. (no pronoun)

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Verb Tenses (Present Tense)

• Verb Tense forms that help to show time.
• In expository writing, use only present tense
  verbs.
• Present Tense expresses a constant, repeated, or
  habitual action or condition. It can also express
  a general truth.
• The present-tense form of a verb is the same as
  the base form of the verb, except for the 3rd
  person singular, which adds s or es.

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Present Tense Examples

• Hemingway writes in a simplistic and rich style.
  (always a habitual action)
• Shakespeare explores the use of language in his
  works. (not just in one play but in every play a
  repeated action)
• Bilbo Baggins is an unusual hero. (a general
  truth).

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Verb Tenses (Past Tense)

• Never use past tense in expository writing
  because literature is ongoing.
• Past Tense expresses an action or a condition
  that was started and completed in the past.
• Nearly all regular and irregular verbs (except
  be) have just one past-tense form, such as
  climbed or ran. The verb be has two was and were

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Verb Tenses (Future Tense)

• Future Tense expresses an action or a condition
  that will occur in the future.
• Form future tense by using the auxiliary verb
  shall or will with the base form. Also, by using
  going to or about to with the present tense of
  the verb be and the base form of the verb.
• Pip will achieve great expectations.
• When shall I study?
• Pip is going to achieve great expectations.
• Pip is about to achieve great expectations.

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Consistency of Tenses

• Dont shift, or change, tenses when two or more
  events occur at the same time.
• The soloist stopped suddenly and coughs loudly.
  (correct this)
• Keep a statement about a general truth in the
  present tense if other verbs are in the past
  tense.
• We remembered that Shakespeare is a master of
  characterization.

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Voice of Verbs (Active Voice)

• In expository writing, always use active voice.
• With active voice the action comes alive.
• An action verb is in active voice when the
  subject performs the action.
• ie. The brown bear caught a salmon.
• ie. Shakespeare wrote these sonnets.

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Voice of Verbs (Passive Voice)

• An action verb is in passive voice when its
  action is performed on the subject.
• Do not use passive voice- it is boring.
• Form the passive voice by using the auxiliary
  verb be with the past participle of the verb.
• A salmon was caught by the brown bear.
• These sonnets were wrote by Shakespeare.

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Subject- Verb Agreement

• A verb must agree with its subject in number.
• Number refers to whether the word is singular or
  plural.
• A Singular subject indicates one (with most
  regular verbs, add s or es to form the sing.)
• ie. The author writes.
• Plural subjects indicate more than one and
  require plural verbs.
• ie. The authors write.

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Agreement with Compound Subjects

• A compound subject that is joined by and or both
  is plural unless its parts belong to one unit or
  they both refer to the same person or thing.
• ie. The lion and the tiger are roaring. (plural)
• ie. Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite type
  of sandwich. (singular because it is one unit).
• ie. His best friend and companion is George.
  (singular because it is one person).

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Agreement with Compound Subjects

• With compound subjects joined by or or nor (or
  eitheror or neithernor), the verb agrees with
  the subject closer to it.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• When typing or handwriting
• Use one side of the page
• Double-Space
• Use white 8.5 x 11 inch paper
• Leave one inch margins
• Use Black Ink
• 12 pt. Font, Times New Roman
• Number your pages at the top right corner with
  your last name (Johnston 2)

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Give your paper a title that is informative, not
  cute. The name of the work is NOT the title of
  your paper.
• Italicize all full-length film, play, magazine,
  newspaper, and book titles. Short stories,
  one-act plays, poems, songs, and articles go in
  quotation marks.
• Do NOT underline or put your part of your own
  title in quotes or italics.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Establish the context of your paper in the first
  sentence John Wayne first appears in
  Stagecoach with a rifle in his hand. NOT Duke
  has a gun.
• GIVE YOUR PAPER A CLEAR THESIS STATEMENT!
• Use a divided thesis to outline the ideas covered
  in the essay.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Do not write one or two sentence paragraphs. Do
  not allow paragraphs to become excessively long.
• Each paragraph must stick to the subject
  introduced in the first sentence of that
  paragraph.
• Be sure to include at least three claims, and
  three supports.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Do not misspell words. Misspelled words look
  dumb. Do not look dumb. Use a dictionary, spell
  check or a literate friend to check your
  spelling.
• Be warned spell-check will not catch all
  mistakes I might.
• A possessive without an apostrophe, or a plural
  with an apostrophe, is a misspelled word.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Do not use the first or second person.
• Do NOT use the passive voice (Careless students
  are failed by Mr. Johnston) use the active voice
  (Mr. Johnston fails careless students).
• Do not begin sentences in any of the following
  There are/is, This is, It is
• DO NOT use contractions (dont, cant,)

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Beware of unclear pronoun references. Do not use
  this, these, that, those, and which
  unless the word has a clear and unmistakable
  antecedent.
• Never use it or thing. Avoid them like the
  plague.
• Do not hedge. Words like maybe, perhaps, and
  might do not keep you from being wrong.
• NEVER write an incomplete sentence.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• NEVER just summarize or paraphrase. This is PLOT
  SUMMARY and it is a sure sign of a lazy mind.
  Remember that I have read the work. I do not want
  to know what happened I want to know your ideas
  about what happened.
• Support your assertions and ideas with concrete
  examples or brief quotations from the work or
  from a reliable authority.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Never use someone elses ideas (even in
  paraphrase) without giving proper credit. See
  your MLA for proper format.
• Beginning quotation marks go after the comma ,
  (23).
• Final quotation marks go after the comma and the
  period but before the colon and semicolon , /
  . / /
• Do not split infinitives. I wanted to drop the
  course quickly. NOT I wanted to quickly drop
  the course.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Know and use the three basic rules of commas
• 1. Join independent clauses either by using a
  comma with a conjunction Readers have long
  lives, but non-readers die at an early age. or a
  semicolon without a conjunction Readers have
  long lives non-readers die at an early age.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• 2. Separate items in a series by using a comma
  after every item before the conjunction. The
  arbitrary, arrogant, and nasty teacher refuses to
  accept journalism rules of punctuation.
• 3. Never use a comma between the subject and the
  verb or the verb and its object, except for
  interrupting clauses which use two commas.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Write about works of art in the present tense,
  since Hamlet will be stabbing Polonius and
  Charlie Chaplin will be eating his shoe long
  after your grandchildren have forgotten your name.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Be consistent when you have two or more parallel
  structures in a sentence.
• With adjectives Wrong He was pompous and
  terrorized freshman. Right He was pompous and
  fond of terrorizing freshman.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• 2. With Prepositions Wrong A student could
  count on his bad temper and arbitrariness.
  Right A student
  could count on his bad temper and on his
  arbitrariness.
• 3. With Correlatives Wrong He graded not only
  for content but for style.
• Right He graded not only for content but also
  for style.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Avoid the following
• Jargon Library, not media center.
• Cliché Romeo learns of the positives and
  negatives of love not Romeo learns that every
  rose has its thorn.
• Slang Romeo loves the notion of wooing young
  ladies not Romeo is a fresh pimp.
• Hyperbole This man has too high a regard for
  himself He was the most arrogant bastard to walk
  the earth.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Lose the words very, effective, and quite
  from your written vocabulary.
• Avoid rhetorical questions
• Conclude your paper with a paragraph that
  explains the importance of your ideas to some
  larger understanding. Answer the question So
  What?
• Always do a rough draft. Even Shakespeare revised.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Before writing your final copy, have an
  intelligent friend read your paper to you and
  then fix the items you dont like.
• Staple your paper at the left-hand corner.
• Never write more than the assignment specifies.
  Remember what Shakespeare can say in a sonnet of
  fourteen lines.

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Professor Cohens 39 Picky Writing Rules

• Regardless of who loses your paper- you, I, or
  the computer that ate it- youre the one who will
  have to rewrite it or get an F. So be safe keep
  a duplicate copy, either in hardcopy or on a
  backup disk.